GRIM INFERENCES CORRECTED

Dominion, Volume 37, Issue 119, 15 February 1944, Page 5

GRIM INFERENCES CORRECTED

Mr. Churchill’s Message ENEMY FIGHTING FOR BIG STAKES (Received February 14, 9 p.m.) LONDON, February 13. The message from Mr. Churchill last night corrected excessively unfavourable inferences drawn by some observers from the severe pressure the enemy has been exerting against the Anzio beach-head, says “The Times” in au editorial. “Mr. Churchill speaks on the authority of reports from Generals Maitland Wilson aud Alexander. The dogged fighting quality of the Allied troops has been abundantly displayed, and undoubtedly lies at the root of their commanders’ confidence that they can outlast the enemy’s resources of attack. . “They resist unquestionably in the expectation of rapidly enlarging their beach-head as soon as the force or the assault is spent, for a position ot this sort cannot remain stationary. Beyond thi.s obvious necessity, the plan in which the landing operation has to fit has still to be made plain. If its purpose was to divert troops from the main Italian front, as General Clark states it has actually done, then it has to be recognized that it has not succeeded to the extent of creating a decisive enemy weakness. The supposition that the plan aimed at cutting or disorganizing the enemy’s main line of communication along the Appian Way seems to be excluded since no attempt was made at deep penetration by mobile units while the advantage of strategic surprise continued. “Mr. Churchill’s message of encouragement will be read not only at home but at the front where it will rightly be taken as proof unanswerable of confidence in the troops now engaged in this critical action.”

The “Daily Mail” in a leading article says: “It is to be noted that the ‘great battle,* the outcome of which Mr. Churcbil views with such confidence is not for a beach-head, or a road, dr a railway; but for the ‘capture of Rome.’ If we keep in mind the stakes for which the enemy is fighting, we shall understand why the battle has been in the balance and may sway yet.” Hitler’s Time Limit Expires.

Correspondents with the Fifth Army recall that today- marked Herr Hitler’s personal time limit —set a fortnight ago—for the reduction of the Anzio beachhead, says British Official Wireless. Hitler himself ordered the forces facing the Allied troops in the beach-head to throw them into the sea.

“No man could say the enemy has not devoted himself wholeheartedly to the task,” says one correspondent. , “From the limited air fortes known to be at his command he has flung in every available plane, and many have crashed among the marshy swamps round us. Elements of numerous divisions have been swung to this area and battered their way against the defences to try to carry out Hitler’s bidding. We have been held temporarily, but those forces against us have paid dearly for their determination. We have also paid. The fighting over these fields takes a grisly toll of both sides. “Replacements of stores, ammunition, guns,! and tanks have poured into the area, but the territorial advantages which count so much in Italy remain as yet in the hands of the defenders. Our air superiority has been a powerful factor, while the control of the sen makes the back door safe, but round the arc which marks the perimeter of our outposted positions we are over-looked by a semicircle of enemy troops with perhaps the ■biggest artillery concentration in the country—which he has been 'sparing in use but which one realizes only too well is there. To gain an extra mile now is a major effort, and before we can take those positions which will make all the difference an attack as bold as anything yet mounted will be necessary.’’ The correspondent thus sums up the key to the Germans’ temporary success. “While we have advanced toward Colle Laziali, we have not taken this dominating feature, and from its foothills the enemy’s big guns continue to shell us, even into the port area.” The Laziali hills, in the southern foothills of which lies Velletri, 20 miles north of Nettuno, rise nearly 2900 feet to the peak of Monte Faeto, from which a downward slope is virtually consistent toward the outskirts of Rome, 14 miles to the north-west.

POPE’S POSITION

Actions Misconstrued

(Received February 14,11.50 p.m.) LONDON, February 14. “The Pope’s present position is the most difficult of any man,” said the new Archbishop of Westminster, in a speech. “The Pope tried to prevent the war and denounced the German invasion of occupied countries, but if his Holiness speaks his words are often misconstrued and so are his smallest actions. If the Pope is silent his silence is taken as complicity. No one would envy the Holy Father, in his present position and the crisis we have to face.”